


Birds of a Feather

by Cinnasam



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fluff, Hinata and Kageyama go to different universities, M/M, university!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2015-11-09
Packaged: 2018-04-30 17:38:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5173172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinnasam/pseuds/Cinnasam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No matter how much distance they put between themselves, they always come back together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birds of a Feather

It was almost five in the morning and Hinata was in the club room changing into his practice clothes when three of his fellow third years walked in. The captain of the team, who was also the setter, Ito was in the middle, flanked on either side by a sleepy looking Inuoka and libero, Miyamoto.

"Yo Hinata," Ito called, as he set down his bag onto the floor. 

"Hey!" Hinata chirped back, looking up from the shoe that he was tying. "You guys are early today," he observed, looking pointedly at the libero and blocker who were sluggishly putting their things away into the lockers. "Usually it's just Ito-san and I for pre-practice-practice."

Miyamoto yawned as he set down his bag and rifled through it for his kneepads. "Ito-san forced us come today." He pulled out one kneepad, but put it back down when he noticed the inked signature on the back of its band. He continued to search for his practice pair. "I just don't understand how you two get up this early every day," he complained, another large yawn overtaking his face. 

Inuoka was already asleep again, eyes closed as he leaned against the wall. Ito snapped his fingers in front of his face to wake him up, and Inuoka visibly startled. “Do you think that the coach would be mad if he found out that we were doing this?” he asked, voice still droopy from sleep. 

That was one thing that Hinata could say that he hadn’t thought of. Their coach was pretty harsh about sticking to their planned regimens, and he did usually get a little bit upset if they deviated it. But that was usually from people trying to skip workouts. Would he really get upset if they were doing extra practices? He might. He’d probably yell at them, he’d ask them what he would do if one of them would have gotten hurt during their unsupervised practice. Would he be so upset that he’d bench them? He wouldn’t. But if he did that then Hinata would never be able to play against—

"He'd understand," Hinata heard Ito say dismissively, and it helped Hinata's anxiety settle a bit. "And don't complain so much, you two. Hopefully today will be the only day that you two have to do it."

"Oh, yeah. Why are they here for practice today, Ito-san?" Hinata asked, pulling his arm across his chest to stretch as he said it. 

Ito grinned. "I thought it would be nice to have a little bit of defense against that new combination we were working on. See if it'll actually be useful in a game." 

Stars shone in Hinata's eyes. "You're so smart Ito-san!" he exclaimed. "But I'll definitely get it past Inuoka!"

"Don't forget about me!" Miyamoto said, finally with both kneepads around his legs. "There's no way that the ball will hit the floor while I'm there." 

Hinata grinned at the challenge. He had always liked Miyamoto. Ever since they were over-enthusiastic first years at university, they would sit on the bench together practically vibrating with their desire to get out on the court and play. Even before that though, there had been something about Miyamoto that had drawn Hinata in right away. Maybe it was because sometimes, on the court when the libero was really fired up, he reminded Hinata, just slightly, of Nishinoya. It wasn’t so much that their personalities were similar, but rather they both had similar ‘all out’ styles of flashy receiving that Hinata couldn’t help but admire. And it would make him wonder, distantly, if he’d ever be able to play on the court with Nishinoya again. He hoped that he would, even though he had heard that his senpai had quit sometime during university. 

"Okay, okay that's enough" the captain interrupted, before Hinata and Miyamoto could get too excited. "But specifically I want to see if we'd be able to use it in the game on Saturday. You've been researching the blocking techniques Tokyo uses, right Inuoka?"

Inuoka nodded in an affirmative and started enthusiastically talking about what he had learned, but Hinata was no longer listening. Saturday. The word washed over him and settled deep in his stomach. Finally. He had been waiting for this specific Saturday to come for years. For seven years he had been anticipating this single game. It felt like it would be the real defining moment of everything that he had been working for ever since that fateful day at his first volleyball tournament in junior high. 

"--Shouyou?"

Hinata blinked, broken out of his daze. "Huh?" 

Miyamoto wasn't fazed. "Doesn't your boyfriend go to Tokyo, Shouyou?" he repeated.

The wide grin that overtook Hinata's face at the statement stretched his face out so much that it made his cheeks hurt. He ignored the slight pain because Hinata couldn't possibly find it in himself to make his smile any smaller. "Yeah! Kageyama's their setter!" he enthused, no longer able to contain his excitement. "It'll be our first time playing against each other in an official match since middle school! But this time I'll definitely beat him!"

"Do you think he might take it easy on us, since you guys are together?" Ito asked, a look of serious, captainly concern on his face.

"Kageyama?" Hinata repeated. "No way! He would never do that!" Kageyama loved winning. He would never lose on purpose. Especially not to Hinata. Not when he knew how much this game meant to him. 

Meant to both of them. 

“Really?" Miyamoto asked, his interest piqued. "I feel like if I was playing against my girlfriend I'd have to lose or else she'd get mad at me."

Hinata frowned. "Kageyama wouldn't do that. He’s not like that. I'd definitely be more mad if he did purposefully lose. He knows that. Otherwise it wouldn't feel like the win was real..." It'd feel like he was still Kageyama's pawn, instead of his equal. Like he could only win when Kageyama let him. Just the thought of it made his blood boil. Hinata looked up at the three players around him, and only realized when he recognized the dumbfounded look on their faces that he had been making a terrifying face. He had probably said too much. Hinata blushed. "A-also, Kageyama's mad at me most of the time anyways. S-so I'd be used to it!"

Inuoka let out a loud snort of a laugh, which only served to make Hinata blush harder. Hinata was about to yell at him (although squeaking was a more likely option since his throat was still tight from embarrassment) when the captain intervened. "Alright, alright. That’s enough of that. Let's get into the gym. We've got a lot to do if we want to finish before regular practice starts."

Hinata straightened, determination settling into his features as his embarrassment melted away into nothing. How could he focus on that when there was volleyball to play? Especially when this new combination they were working on was going to be their best bet at getting a leg up on Kageyama and the rest of the Tokyo team in the game. And Hinata was definitely ready to show Kageyama exactly how much he had grown during for these past three years that they had been separated. 

\--

Kageyama's old running shoes had grass stains on the toes. Hinata knew this because he had been staring at Kageyama's feet for almost an entire minute as he avoided looking the other in the eye.

Kageyama hadn't said anything, and his shoes weren't giving anything away, so Hinata wasn't sure when it would be safe to look up again. His neck was cramping from the awkward angle, but he didn't dare look up. He had seen murder in Kageyama's eyes more times than he could count during the time that they had known each other, but this was the first time since their first year that Hinata was actually concerned that Kageyama would do it. 

"What did you just say?" Kageyama asked from above him. His voice sounded tense. It was still angry, but there was a little bit of something else there too, something that Hinata couldn't identify, and that he wasn't sure if he wanted to.

"You heard me, Bakageyama," Hinata mumbled, averting his eyes from even Kageyama's feet and instead focusing his attention on the concrete of the outside wall to the Karasuno gymnasium. It wasn't nearly as interesting, but Hinata was feeling a bit petulant, and didn't want to give Kageyama the satisfaction of him looking at any part of him. 

That sentiment changed rather quickly though when he saw a flash of movement from back where Kageyama was standing. Hinata's head moved without hesitation, and the next thing he knew Kageyama was close, too close, right in his personal space. Kageyama was hunched over threateningly, and their foreheads were so close that they were almost touching. Hinata's breath caught in his throat. 

"You said that Tokyo was your dream university," Kageyama seethed. His words were spit out around his clenched teeth, and his jaw was tight with tension. Hinata's eyes were focused on Kageyama's dark eyes though, now that he was looking at them he could identify that lost emotion in his voice. It was betrayal. Kageyama growled. "You got in, but now you decide that you aren't going? What's wrong with you?!"

Hinata's blood boiled. Kageyama was so stupid. He was so selfish. 

Hinata lifted himself onto his toes and pushed his forehead into Kageyama's, moving the other backwards and knocking him off balance with the force of it. "They don't want me!"

Kageyama pushed him back and they broke apart. He looked so stupid, his face was betraying his confusion- like he hadn't been sitting right there when they had talked to the recruiter for Tokyo University last week. "They only want you," Hinata elaborated. The distaste for the words coming out of his mouth was apparent from the disdainful look on his face as he crossed his arms in front of his body protectively. 

"What are you talking about!?" Kageyama groaned. "They asked you to come! I was right there!"

"Then you should have heard him say they they only want me if you're there too!"

"But I am going there! So what's the problem?" Kageyama looked like he was at his wits end, like he couldn't possibly understand why Hinata was so worked up. It made Hinata want to punch him.

Hinata roared. "Because if you weren't then they wouldn't look twice at me!" Kageyama's expression fell, dumbfounded. He looked like he wanted to say something, but Hinata cut him off before he had the chance. "They don't want me as a player," he said, his desperation cutting in the edges of his voice. He needed Kageyama to understand. "They want you as a player, and me as your accessory. They don't think that I'm worth anything unless I'm playing with you."

Kageyama softened, and stepped back into Hinata, but this time it was with more care. Close, but not overwhelmingly so. Just far enough so Hinata didn't feel like he was being pitied. "I don't think of you that way," he said, voice uncharacteristically small.

Hinata sighed, letting the last of his anger at the setter flow out of him. It wasn't Kageyama that he was really mad at. He had just been a good outlet for his frustrations, and Hinata felt a little bit guilty for it now. "I know," he answered quietly. "But everyone-- everyone else still does. Even after how far I've come these past three years. Nobody sees it. Everybody knows that you're a great player no matter where you are, but me... they still only see me for the freak-quick. They still think I'm only useful for one attack with one, specialized setter."

"But you're not--!" Kageyama cut in, the earnest honesty on his face was clear.

"I know." Hinata said. He felt like he was still shaking. "I know that. But I've gotta show everyone else that they're wrong. And I think that the only way that's going to happen is if we go to different universities and play on different teams. Otherwise I'm just going to stay in your shadow."

Kageyama nodded, defeated. "I get it." But the growing crease in his forehead gave away his concern. Hinata could understand why Kageyama would be upset with his decision. They had been planning to go to the same university since the beginning of the year. They were going to share a dorm. They were going to be able to play with Watari-san from Seijoh and with Kuroo-san from Nekoma. They were going to be able to stay together as partners.

But now they wouldn't.

"Thanks." Hinata felt like he could finally breathe again. The weight of having that conversation with Kageyama had been building up in his chest ever since their meeting with the recruiter and it was nice not to feel so bogged down. He felt like he could jump 50 centimeters higher than he had been able to that morning. It felt fantastic. He smiled up at Kageyama and caught the other in his arms as Kageyama took one the final step inwards, crashing their bodies into a tight hug.

Hinata squeezed as tightly as he could, trying the soak up as much of Kageyama as he could while the other was still right there in front of him. He knew, logically, that going to different universities wouldn't keep them from seeing each other. They wouldn't be physically together but there were ways to get around that. 

But still. Something about that moment felt like a goodbye. Like a branching point that was sending them in different directions- unsure if their paths would ever really intertwine again. A goodbye to what they had been for these past three years. 

"This is touching and everything, but if you two are done making out, practice did start ten minutes ago," Tsukishima's deadpan voice sliced through the air like a knife, and the pair immediately jumped apart to avoid being cut by it. "Yamaguchi's getting upset."

"We-! We weren't making out!" Hinata squawked.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. "This time."

Hinata bristled. Tsukishima caught them kissing _one_ time and now he treated it like it was all they ever did. He was about to tell him off, but Kageyama spoke before he could manage to figure out what to say. "Tell Yamaguchi that we'll be there in a minute," Kageyama said.

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow. "I'm not a messenger. Tell him yourself." Then he strolled back into the gym dismissively. 

"That guy!" Hinata crossed his arms. He was ready to stomp into the gymnasium after Tsukishima to give him a piece of his mind when he felt a pull on the back of his practice jersey. Kageyama looked sheepish as he let go of Hinata's shirt. "What was that for?" Hinata asked him, the gentleness from earlier returning to him, and his irritation with Tsukishima vanishing.

Kageyama wouldn't look him in the eye, and he licked his lips nervously. "We're ok now, right?"

"Huh? Yeah, of course. It wasn't really you that I was mad at anyways," Hinata admitted, feet shuffling in the dirt. 

"So if I... that is. If I still wanted to go to Tokyo University, would you be mad?"

"No, I don't think so... I'd have to think about it," Hinata said, tapping on his chin thoughtfully. But the teasing grin that took over his face gave his real opinion away. 

Kageyama's face scrunched up into an immediate scowl. "What the hell do you mean by that, dumbass?!" Kageyama yelled, rising to the bait like Hinata knew he would. It made him laugh, so he grabbed Kageyama's hand and started pulling him towards the gym. 

"We can worry about that later, okay? For now, just toss to me."

\--

It had been a stroke of luck that Kageyama's own volleyball practice had been cancelled the day of Hinata's first volleyball game in university. He had left his classes early so that he'd be able to take the train to Hinata's campus, but thanks to a train delay he had only just slid into his place in the crowd fifteen minutes before the game was supposed to start. Both teams were already on the court warming up and Kageyama watched them with interest for a few minutes before he noticed that something was definitely missing. 

He scanned the court for Hinata's orange hair one more time. When he didn't see it, he had a feeling that he knew exactly where his boyfriend was. 

Hinata's pre-game anxiety must have been acting up again. 

Kageyama nearly vaulted himself out of his seat and ran out into the hallway in search of the nearest bathroom. It took quite a bit of searching, but when he finally stepped onto the bathroom tile he was happy to note that it was blessedly empty except for Hinata's sneakers peeking out from under the stall. 

"Hinata!" He called, banging on the door to the stall. 

He heard his boyfriend let out a squeak of surprise from inside before the door to the stall opened slightly and Hinata pulled Kageyama inside.

"I'm gonna be sick," Hinata immediately moaned, his pale hands clutching his stomach as he tried to keep from vomiting. 

Kageyama placed a soothing hand on his boyfriend's back. "You'll be fine. You've played in lots of games and have been fine." 

"But what if I mess up? What if I never get to play ever again? This isn't like high school." A loud gurgle came from Hinata's stomach and he doubled over with a groan.

"That's not gonna happen," Kageyama assured him. 

"But how do you know?" Hinata pleaded, burying himself in closer to Kageyama's comfort.

"Because." Kageyama licked his lips and pulled back from their embrace just a fraction. "As long as I'm here," he let the hand that had been cupping Hinata's face slide down until it was resting over his heart. "You’re invincible." Hinata looked from the hand on his chest up into Kageyama's eyes, and Kageyama had to swallow around the lump in his throat. "We make each other stronger, okay?"

It took a moment of breathless, wonder filled silence before Hinata was laughing hysterically into Kageyama's chest and Kageyama was pouting uselessly above him. 

Hinata was still laughing to himself when he pulled away to wipe a tear from his eye. "You're actually pretty cheesy, aren't you Kageyama?"

Kageyama flushed a hot pink. "Sh-shut up!" The line had sounded cool in his head; a sort of homage to their past and everything they had been through together...

"But," Hinata said, interrupting Kageyama's embarrassed thoughts. "I'm not nervous anymore. So it worked either way." He grinned to himself and lifted himself onto his tiptoes to give Kageyama a solid kiss on the mouth. "Thank you. I'm gonna go get warmed up now so I can do my best."

Hinata bounced out of the room like nothing had happened at all. 

And that was how Kageyama was left alone in the bathroom stall, wondering just when Hinata had learned how to make him speechless.

\--

It turned out that playing against Kageyama was just as much of a disadvantage as it was an advantage. 

After playing together as a unit for so long, they each knew the other's strengths and weaknesses. Kageyama knew where Hinata spiked the ball the best, and where his block was weak. Hinata knew where Kageyama's most powerful serves went to on the court, he knew how to get Kageyama to lose his composure, and he knew at what point the setter's determination turned into sloppiness. It was more of an instinctual knowledge than a strategic one, and if either of them were exploiting the other's weaknesses, then it was more due to unconscious habit than any sort of animosity.  
Their familiarity with one another kept them on pretty even ground when battling. But if there was one wild card it was that their familiarity kept them locked onto one another's movements more so than anyone else. And whether Kageyama realized he was doing it or not, he was focusing on Hinata more than any of the other spikers. And while Kageyama might not have noticed it, Hinata definitely had, and he definitely wasn't above exploiting it to his advantage. He was a decoy, after all. 

The whistle blew and a point was added to Hinata's team's score. 

"Nice one, Hinata," Ito told him, grinning as he put a supportive hand on his shoulder. "Just like we practiced." He sent a conspiring wink in the shorter boy's direction. 

Hinata beamed. "Right!" He felt absolutely ecstatic that the new combination he and Ito had been working so hard on was actually working well in the game. When Hinata looked onto the other side of the net, Kageyama was standing tall, his eyes rapidly examining the court as he took in all the information around him, trying to find what he could use as an advantage, trying to plan his next move.

Hinata's team rotated and served. The ball flew over the net and Tokyo's libero dove to receive it. The ball went up and straight to Kageyama who set it with ease to the left side. Hinata jumped as the spiker made contact. 

"One touch!" 

Someone in the back row received the ball, and shouted "Ito!" 

That was his cue. Hinata dashed to the right side of the net and got set to jump. In the millisecond between when he stopped and when his feet left the floor, Hinata's eyes locked with Kageyama's, who had run over to block him. Kageyama's eyes squinted and he immediately jumped to meet Hinata in the air. 

There was one, weightless moment where they just looked at one another. Determination was set in their eyes as they seemed to hang midair, clamoring to see which one of them would reach the sky first.

It wasn't until they started coming down again that Kageyama realized that they ball hadn't gone to Hinata.

He had fallen for the decoy. 

Both pairs of sneakers landed on the ground with a squeak just as the ball that was hit by Inuoka landed solidly on Tokyo's side of the court. 

The whistle blew. 

The set went to Hinata's team. 

\--

It was after the Tokyo game and Hinata was packing up his things with the rest of the team in the locker room when the team manager burst in, slightly out of breath and eyes wide. "Hinata! There's a guy outside looking for you!"

The room was silent for a moment, before somebody laughed, and then another let out a catcall. "Probably your boyfriend Hinata!"

Hinata perked up. "Hm?" He hadn't expected for Kageyama to get over losing so quickly- honestly, he had kind of assumed that his boyfriend would ignore him for the rest of the weekend. Neither of them handled losing very well. But if Kageyama was going to swallow his pride and tell Hinata 'good game' then there was no way that Hinata was going to miss it. "Okay! Tell him I'll be out in a minute!"

The manager blinked several times in rapid succession. "It’s- it’s not-! No, it's-he's a recruiter! From the national team!"

The room went silent. 

The next thing everyone knew, Hinata was face down on the floor, stiff as a board. His entire body was locked up from the sudden onslaught of nerves. Even though Hinata was unresponsive, there was a flurry of action around him as his teammates tried to get him off the floor and in proper functioning condition. 

"Come on Hinata!" Miyamoto said as he brushed the dirt off of Hinata's warm up jersey. They had managed to get Hinata standing, but not without lots of support. "You can't leave him waiting." Almost as an afterthought, the libero pushed the corners of the paralyzed boy's mouth into a forced smile, then flashed him a smile of his own with a thumbs up. 

Hinata returned the sentiment with a shaky thumb of his own. 

Seeing that the spiker had gotten at least some of his basic motor functions back, the team pushed Hinata out of the room as one of the first years shouted "Go get 'im Shouyou!" enthusiastically.

The force of the push sent Hinata reeling into the hallway. He only just barely avoided slamming into the back of the waiting recruiter by flailing his arms until he regained his balance. At least his reflexes were still working, even if his conscious movements weren't. 

The recruiter seemed to notice Hinata's presence and turned to him. 

On instinct, Hinata bowed deeply. "Hello Mr. Recruiter-san sir!" 

The man laughed, and Hinata felt his cheeks stain pink. "Hinata Shouyou, right?"

Hinata stood upright and nodded. "Yeah, that's me." 

"You played a great game today, Hinata-kun. I've never seen anyone jump as high as you did today. And very consistently too. Very impressive." 

It felt like Hinata's heart was stopping. "Th-thank you sir." He hadn't thought about it during the game, but now that it had been pointed out, Hinata guessed that he might have been jumping higher than normal. During every game he of course tried to jump as high as he could and do his best, but there was something about playing against Kageyama that had brought something extra out of him. 

Kageyama always made him into his best. 

"Have you ever thought about continuing your career in volleyball past college? On a national level?" 

"Y-yes!"

The crow's feet around the recruiter's eyes crinkled as he smiled. "Great. Here's my card. Give me a call and we'll set up an appointment to talk about your future."

Hinata took the card and held it in both hands reverently. He stared down at the characters on the card. It almost didn't seem true, even as he stared at it with his own eyes. By the time that his brain had caught up to the present (it had been stuck in a loop of 'is this really happening? Oh my God. What the hell.' for a while) he looked up to thank the recruiter but he was already gone. 

Before he could think of anything else, Hinata's feet started running down the hallway. They carried him on instinct towards the other set of lockers rooms that the Tokyo team was using. 

He sprinted as fast as he could, dodging through spectators who were littering the hallways after the game. He heard someone, distantly, shout "Nice game number ten!" but his body didn't react to it. His mind was focused on one thing. 

He needed to find Kageyama. 

Maybe he should have been more cautious. Kageyama was likely to be upset already about losing, and if he found out that Hinata had just been scouted it might make him even more upset as a competitor. But as a boyfriend, Hinata had no doubts that Kageyama would be happy for him. And he couldn't imagine keeping quiet about something of this magnitude. 

If he didn't tell Kageyama as soon as possible he felt like he might explode. 

When Hinata finally turned the corner to the hall that led down to the visiting school locker room, Hinata stopped dead in his tracks. His feet skidded against the floor and his labored breath caught in his throat as he saw Kageyama standing at the end of the hallway. He was talking to the same recruiter that Hinata had been talking to not even five minutes before. 

Even though his limbs were shaking with excited energy, Hinata stayed put. Kageyama was talking to the recruiter. His face was serious as he nodded definitively to something that the man was saying. The recruiter dug into his pocket and pulled out another card and handed it to Kageyama. 

The recruiter walked away, and Hinata couldn’t contain himself any longer. He flew down the hallway and vaulted himself on top of Kageyama. 

The setter hadn't been expecting the blow (he had been too focused on the card in his hand to pay attention to any of his surroundings, it seemed) so when the full force of Hinata's body weight crashed into him they both fell to the floor with a loud thump. 

"What the hell do you think that you're doing dumba----?"

Hinata cut him off with a solid, enthusiastic kiss that may or may not have actually landed on Kageyama's mouth. Hinata didn't care either way. Once he had pulled away he fished out the card the the recruiter had given him from his pocket and held it up in Kageyama's face. 

Kageyama took the card from him, and held his own card in his other hand next to it. He stared at them. Then looked back to Hinata. 

"You?"

Hinata nodded. 

"And I?"

He nodded again.

"So we're?"

Hinata grinned. 

Kageyama moved so suddenly that it caught Hinata off guard. But before he knew it Kageyama had both arms around him and was squeezing him in a bone crushing hug. Hinata laughed loudly and snuggled in close, returning the embrace with all the strength he could muster.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading ^-^  
> Constructive criticism and comments are always appreciated. 
> 
> I have a tumblr if you want to check it out. There isn't much there yet, but it'd be nice to have some people to talk to (ﾉ◕‿◕)ﾉ  
> cinnasam.tumblr.com


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